Electro-hydraulic oxidation has been used to precipitate metals and oxidize organic compounds with supercritical water conditions. Electro-chemical oxidation has been used to remove chemical oxygen demand (COD) in high organic load conditions such as sewage treatment on cruise ships and manufacturing foodstuffs such as cheese. Though electro-chlorination and mediated electro-chemical oxidation have been found to be efficient at mineralizing normal organic compound, they cannot oxidize recalcitrant man-made organic compounds. Electro-chemical oxidation with gas ozone addition has been used to remove recalcitrant organic compound (pollutants) in the presence of normal organic compounds in the effluent.
Electro-coagulation and precipitation has been used to remove chemical oxygen demand and hardness salts from effluent. Electro-sterilization has been used in the food industry as an alternative to thermal pasteurization.
Current technology uses an iron or aluminum anode to precipitate the organic matter from the aqueous solution. To reduce the bacteria population, a biocide is then added to the treated water. If reduced scaling tendencies is desired an anti-scalent is added to the treated water. If the organic compound is dissolved in the water like medical drugs, then the flocculent does not work on those compounds and if there is not sufficient organic compound to flocculate it still will not work. Ozone is sometimes added to the process to help with oxidation of organics, but its reaction rate is slow. In the food industry, the taste of iron or aluminum in the recycled water is undesired.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these shortcomings in the prior art.